The present application relates to a method for cutting a fish head off a fish, i.e., heading a fish, and in particular, a method for orienting a fish in a heading machine for heading. The present application also relates to a device for orienting a fish in a heading machine, in which a blade suitable for heading a fish is provided.
An underlying issue of heading a fish using a heading machine is solving the problem of removing the entire fish head without removing usable fish meat from the fish body. An array of suggestions have been proposed regarding positioning the fish such that a blade plane spanned by a cutting blade runs precisely between the fish body and the fish head. For example, a suggestion has been made to create a form fit between a fish head and a positioning unit. Pointed objects, such as nails or needles, are attached to the positioning unit. These pointed objects penetrate into a thin flesh cover of the fish head. Through a comparatively complex displacement mechanism, with the aid of which a positioning unit is lowered in a direction toward the fish's head, the pointed objects are pressed into the flesh. In this manner, the fish is coupled to the positioning unit. The positioning unit must then be controlled in a constructively complex carousel unit so that the fish body is displaced in a trough in which it is conveyed in a direction toward the positioning unit and then transported out of it.
While the devices described above are capable of positioning a fish in the desired position such that the fish may be headed, these devices are very costly and therefore fail to consider the demands placed on modern fish processing machines.